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Biographer to speak on Primo Levi, Nov. 19

Posted November 14, 2002; 12:56 a.m.

by tbartus

British freelance writer and journalist Ian Thomson will present a talk, "A Masterpiece Completed: The Writing of 'If This Is a Man'" at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, in 16 Joseph Henry House.

Thomson is the author of "Primo Levi" (2002), a biography of the brilliant Jewish-Italian author who was trained as a chemist, and whose experiences in Auschwitz and later travels through Eastern Europe were the subjects of his powerful memoirs, fiction and poetry. Levi's account of Auschwitz, "If This Is a Man," made him one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. Thomson was one of the last to interview Levi before his death in 1987.